From Beyond: Aftermath
by Christopher28
Summary: Based on Coeur Al'Aran's fantastic story, "From Beyond". This story begins just as Coeur's leaves off, with Jaune Arc possessing the body of Amber, the Fall Maiden, Penny Polendina uploaded into a robo-Jaune body, and the fall of Beacon very narrowly averted. Cinder is on the run, Team Ruby is intact and Ozpin lives. But what is a former ghost to do with a new life?
1. Chapter 1

From Beyond: Aftermath Ch 1

"Forget that," Yang crowed as she came through the door into the hospital room Blake had been staying in. "She needs to known about the crazy girl telling everyone she's going to be her girlfri..." Yang's words trailed off as she stared at the older brunette girl who was holding her partner, Blake, so brazenly from behind. Her arms were wrapped around Blake's middle, with Blake laying peacefully in her arms. It was actually kind of sweet.

"Damn." she muttered, almost admiringly. "She works fast."

Blake, who had looked almost on the verge of falling asleep, glanced wearily back into the eyes of the brunette. "Everyone?"

"Well..." the brunette grinned. "Now that I have a body, I thought I'd try and stake my claim."

Yang watched, still more than a little astonished, as Blake smiled and rested her head on the older girl's shoulder, her eyes closing, with a look of relaxed trust Yang couldn't ever remember seeing on her partner's face before.

"You're an idiot." Blake muttered, although from the tone it was obviously more teasing than angry.

"But am I your idiot?" the brunette asked cheekily.

Yang couldn't quite hear what Blake said next, but from the look of satisfaction on the brunette's face, it was pretty obvious that it had been something in the affirmative. She wanted to demand answers right that moment, but with Blake having just barely recovered from her near-death experience, she hesitated.

Next to her, Weiss's face was just as confused as her own, and Ruby was blushing, but neither girl seemed inclined to disturb their sleeping teammate.

"Come on, Yang, let's... give them some privacy." Weiss said primly, pulling lightly on the blond girl's arm to guide her toward the exit.

Yang grunted but let the Schnee heiress lead her away.

Weiss guided Yang out of the room, Ruby leading the way out, still blushing in embarrassment, but she turned back to give the brunette in bed with Blake a fierce look. "I advise you to be very careful with my teammate's affections." she warned the strange woman.

"I'll behave." the woman said, smiling at Weiss almost fondly, causing the white haired fencer further confusion. Why did she get this feeling of familiarity with the stranger? They had never met before the battle for Beacon, had they? Did one short, if incredibly violent battle generate that kind of a connection? Shaking her head in confusion, Weiss left the room, closing the door behind her.

Out in the hall, team LVN was waiting, eager for news. Yang was happy to provide it.

"Looks like Blake's going to be OK. But you're not going to believe this!" The blond brawler explained excitedly. "You know that weird girl that's been going around telling everyone Blake's her girlfriend? Well, she's in there with Blake right now... and it's obvious Blake likes her too!"

"I see..." Lie Ren said with a mildly surprised expression.

"She... does?" Pyrrha Nikos questioned, looking very confused. "I wonder how Blake met her? Before Beacon, perhaps?"

Yang frowned thoughtfully. "Maybe?" She started to say more, then hesitated, looking thoughtful.

Ruby spoke up to fill the game. "And it was weird!" the small girl exclaimed. "I mean, she's all wounded, and she just charges in and goes toe to toe with that crazy terrorist. And she burns through his sword with her bare hand... And then BOOM! Lightning out of the sky. I mean... what's up with that?"

Weiss chimed in. "And what on Remnant was she wearing? It was like she came right from her bed without taking time to change. I mean, certainly it was an emergency situation, but why would she have been sleeping? It was the end of the Vital Festival?"

Pyrrha hesitated, not really sure how much she should explain. "Her name is... Amber, I believe. She's an... associate of headmaster Ozpin." she shrugged helplessly, not sure what else to say.

"How come we've never seen her before?" Ruby questioned her curiously. "She's not a student..."

Yang slapped a fist into her opposite palm. "Hey! She must be the mysterious 'boyfriend' Blake's been keeping secret all this time! That explains so much!"

Pyrrha blinked, not expecting that conclusion. "I don't believe so..." she trailed off, not sure how to explain without giving away rather more than she was supposed to know.

Yang raised an eyebrow. "Oh? It makes sense, right? Blake's been texting her secret 'boyfriend'" the blond putting up quote marks with her fingers. "for months now. But she never let us see who it was she was talking to." Yang looked thoughtful. "That Atlas solider she was supposed to be dating seemed fishy to me. He showed up at the last minute at the dance, then disappeared, and we never saw him again. I bet he was just some guy Blake convinced to pretend to be her boyfriend so we wouldn't know that she's really been going out with an older woman the whole time."

Ruby pouted. "But we wouldn't care about that. It doesn't matter who Blake likes, just so long as she's happy, right?"

Yang chuckled. "Well, I'd tease her either way, but yeah. Boys, girls, whatever, nobody is going to give our Blakey trouble about liking girls." her eyes narrowed. "Not without getting a beating from me, anyway."

"But she can't have been texting Amber..." Pyrrha muttered quietly, although unfortunately for her, not quite quietly enough for Yang to miss.

"Why not?" The blond brawler asked curiously.

Pyrrha winced. "Er... I don't believe Amber was... available for scroll calls?"

Now everyone was looking at the invincible girl curiously. "Why wouldn't she be able to take a scroll call?" Nora asked the question first.

Pyrrha winced again.

"And how would you know that?" Yang asked, sounding suspicious. "What aren't you telling us, Pyrrha?"

Pyrrha sighed, closing her eyes. "Because... because until the battle for Beacon, Amber was in a coma. At least, so far as I was aware."

"A coma!" Ruby gasped. "What happened to her?"

Yang looked dubious. "She fought really well for a coma patient, Pyrrha. I mean... that girl is scary powerful. You're saying she woke up during the battle, jumped out of bed, and kicked that much ass right after being in a coma?"

Pyrrha shrugged helplessly. "Yes?"

Weiss nodded thoughtfully. "Actually, that WOULD explain her odd attire during the battle. It seemed a bit strange that she arrived barefoot, wearing such scanty clothing for a battle, but if she'd been in a hospital bed, hooked up to life support till the battle, it makes perfect sense."

Yang raised an eyebrow. "Hooked up to life support?"

Weiss nodded sagely. "It fits." She then looked at Pyrrha curiously. "So you do know her. Or you saw her in the hospital? And she knows Headmaster Ozpin?" Weiss frowned. "But where did she come from? She obviously wasn't in the school infirmary. They don't handle coma patients, obviously, and the hospital in Vale is miles away. I can't believe she traveled all the way from Vale..."

"I'm pretty sure she came out of the tower, actually." Yang said, looking interested. "What, does Ozpin have some sort of secret medical facility hidden under the tower or something?" Pyrrha winced, then tried to school her expression, but Yang had noticed. "What? No way! And how do you know about it?"

Pyrrha held up her hands defensively. "Perhaps it would be better if you asked Amber these questions? Or perhaps professor Ozpin? These are not my secrets to tell."

Yang wrinkled her nose. "Speaking of secrets... I want to know what was up with Robo-Jaune? I mean, it was Penny, but why was Penny walking around in a robot body that looked like Jaune Arc?"

Pyrrha looked horrified. "That was Penny?"

Ruby patted her arm reassuringly. "I'm sure she doesn't hold a grudge..."

Pyrrha looked pained. "Not hold a grudge? For killing her?"

Ruby shrugged helplessly. "She got better?"

/-/

_Hours later..._

Blake woke from her slumber with a snort, feeling her own hot breath on her face as she was snuggled, face first, into something soft and yielding. She seemed to be hugging something to her... and in a moment she started to put things together. With a startled gasp, she tried to rear away from the person she was apparently cuddled with, only to grimace in pain as her shoulder twinged with the movement.

Pulling away turned out to be a bit complicated, as not only did she have her own arms wrapped around the person, they seemed to be hugging her as well.

"Hmm? Blake?" The voice that came from just above her head sounded sleepy, and female, and the breasts she had, to her chagrin, been sleeping face first into certainly seemed to belong to a woman. But before she could panic, her memory started coming back.

"Ah. Jaune? It's you..." She trailed off, suddenly finding her own memories to be hard to believe. "Er... Jaune, this is you, right?"

The woman holding her chuckled. "Yup. In the flesh." She snickered some more. "Nice, huh?"

Blake sighed. "Jaune..."

Jaune sounded worried. "Hey, I swear I didn't do anything! No groping, honest! You must have turned around in the middle of the night or something..."

Blake snorted, lowering her head to rest on the older woman's chest. "I'm not mad. If I didn't want you here, I'd have told you last night."

Jaune sighed, sounding relieved. "So, you're not planning on hitting me anymore?"

Blake chuckled lightly. "Not unless you do something perverted."

"Says the woman with her face in my breasts." Jaune returned, sounding amused.

Blake rolled her eyes, but resisted her first impulse, which was to punch him, and instead only grunted irritably, she did not, however, move away. They both went silent for a while, till Blake felt Jaune lightly stroking her back.

Blake shuffled backwards slightly, opening up half a foot of space between their bodies and looking up at the taller girl's face. "Wait... how are you still her? You're still the woman from last night?"

Jaune blinked, then nodded. "Yeah. I've been her for five days now, nearly six. I seem to be stuck."

Blake looked confused. "How did that happen? Who is she, anyway?" She reached up with one hand to touch the stranger's face, lightly tracing the odd pattern of scarring darkening the left side of the woman's face. "I didn't really follow what you were trying to tell me last night. Was it only last night?"

"Technically it was early this morning. It's getting on toward evening now, I think." Jaune corrected lightly.

"Jaune..." Blake said with a bit of an edge to her voice.

"Right... right..." Jaune answered, the strange woman's face screwing up with a hesitation that was so totally Jaune that Blake had to stop herself from smiling. "It's really complicated..."

Blake rolled her eyes. "When is it not? Just take it one step at a time. You said your... her name is Amber? The woman who's body you're in?"

Jaune sighed. "Yeah. Amber. I sort of remember being her, so when someone calls me that, it's not all that weird to answer to it. But she's not home. There isn't anything." Jaune sighed. "She was in a coma, in this secret place way under the school, in some sort of life support thingy."

Blake blinked. "Wait... there was a woman on life support under the school?"

Jaune nodded. "Yeah. It's REALLY complicated."

Blake hesitated. "So... coma patient?"

Jaune nodded soberly. "Yeah."

Blake frowned. "And... you're stuck?"

Jaune nodded again. "Yeah."

Blake frowned deeper. "Are you sure?"

Jaune sighed. "Yeah. I can't leave. I've tried. Not that I don't like having a body, but..."

Blake looked worried. "You can't leave?"

Jaune hesitated. "Well, I think part of the reason is that I'm not being sustained by your aura anymore. That's what your semblance did... you could push aura outside of your body. Well, without you, I don't think I'm going anywhere."

Blake's eyes went wide. "What do you mean, you're not...?" She looked confused. "I don't understand. I thought my aura was the only thing sustaining you?"

Jaune nodded. "It was, but I think that since I'm in a living body, it's... Amber's aura is sustaining me, and Amber doesn't have your semblance."

Blake started to look really worried now. "But... what...? Why aren't you...?"

Jaune sighed. "You were dying. Your aura was almost gone, and I got hurt... or rather, Amber's body got hurt, and I was pulling aura out of you to heal. I knew that if I kept doing that, you'd die... so I... cut the connection."

Blake blinked. "You cut...? How...?"

Jaune shrugged. "Amber was... is... really good with Aura. I could feel the connection between us, and I just knew how to sever the connection. And it worked. Your aura stopped going down, and you were able to heal."

Blake took a deep breath, closing her eyes. "But... what if she wakes up? You'll get pushed out, and..."

Jaune shook his head. "She's not going to wake up. She's gone. I can't even feel the slightest bit of her left. The machines were keeping her alive, I think."

Blake looked concerned. "Are you sure? If you're wrong, and she wakes up... you could..."

"Die?" Jaune said with a bit of grim humor in his/her eyes. "Don't you remember? I did that already."

Blake did punch his shoulder this time. "I don't care what you call it. You could disappear. I can't lose you again, Jaune."

"You won't." He promised, then caught her wrist when she moved to punch him again. "You WON'T." He said again.

"How do you know that for sure?" Blake asked, worry emblazoned across her face.

He hesitated. "I'm not sure. But this time isn't like any of the others. Before, I could always feel the person I was possessing. There was always something, a spark of consciousness. Of personality. There's none of that. I've got her memories, but the rest? She's just gone."

Blake lowered her head again and wrapped her arms around his body, ignoring the sudden feeling of awkwardness that surged through her at the feeling of the stranger's body in her arms, of the soft breasts she was, again, pressing her face into. Grunting, she squirmed upward till her face was free of the other woman's breasts, trying and failing not to blush.

"You don't know that for sure." Blake said softly. "OK, she's in a coma. Coma patients wake up sometimes, don't they?"

Jaune sighed. "I guess. I don't think Amber will, but..."

Blake sighed. "Just... if you feel her waking up... tell me. I don't know what we can do about it. But... maybe I can... catch you or something? I don't know how this works. But I CAN'T lose you again."

Jaune nodded softly. "I will." He sighed. "This is all kinds of messed up, you know?"

Blake strangled back a choked laugh. "What else is new?" She tucked her face down again, finding it difficult to look into the face of this stranger. It was Jaune. Of that she had no doubt. Not anymore. But still, this woman she was holding in her arms, she didn't know that face. The two of them were silent for several long minutes, while Blake tried to organize her thoughts. Jaune waited patiently, knowing when she needed time to think.

"What about your robot body? Is Penny still in it?" Blake shook her head, looking back up at the woman's face again. "I am remembering that right, aren't I? Adam was about to kill me, and then Penny showed up, in your robot body. I thought it was you at first, but... it was Penny, right?"

Jaune nodded. "Yeah. Apparently the doctor uploaded her into my body... er... robot Jaune, after her original body got destroyed by Pyrrha."

Blake's face went white. "Oh my Oum! Pyrrha! I saw the match between her and Penny! That's what started the whole thing! And then Cinder...!" She took a couple quick, deep breaths to steady herself. "I'm really glad Penny made it... but Pyrrha. I can't imagine what she..."

Jaune winced. "Oh... yeah. Ouch. That was crazy. I guess putting someone with a polarity semblance up against a robot was a bad idea, huh?"

Blake frowned. "Yeah... I guess." Something nagged at her, but her brain still felt sluggish, and there was already so much whirling through her head. "Jaune?"

"Yes Blake?"

"I'm tired. Can we just go back to sleep for now?"

"Sure." Jaune's said softly. "We'll talk more in the morning."

Blake sighed and let her breathing slow, and felt Jaune tighten his arms around her. It was hard to stop her whirling thoughts, but somehow being held by Jaune, despite the oddity of him being female, made it easier to relax, and let herself rest.

* * *

**99.9% of the credit for this fic has to go to Coeur Al'Aran,** **the author of "From Beyond" the fic this is an unofficial continuation of. Coeur is very easily the greatest RWBY fanfiction writer out there, and his stories are a major part of inspiring me to write some RWBY fanfiction myself.  
**

**This isn't going to be the longest fic ever, but when I finished "From Beyond" I wanted more. I'll be exploring what might have happened after the point Coeur left off. I don't plan on writing an epic tale where Jaune and Blake hunt down Cinder, Emerald and Mercury, just to explore what they might end up doing in the immediate Aftermath of the events of the near fall of Beacon, especially now that Jaune has a (seemingly permanent, if female) body.**


	2. Chapter 2

From Beyond: Aftermath Ch 2

The next morning after breakfast, Yang told her team that she was going to the infirmary to visit Blake, and managed to convince Ruby and Weiss to stay behind for once, explaining that Blake probably wouldn't want to be crowded right away after waking up.

"But you'll tell us how she's doing right away?" Ruby pressed.

"Sure sis." Yang agreed easily.

"And if she wants company, you'll let us know?" Ruby continued.

"No problem." Yang assured her younger sister, smiling fondly.

"Give Blake our best." Weiss said seriously.

"You got it!" Yang said, waving as she turned to go.

As she walked towards the infirmary, Yang's mind raced with questions and possibilities. There was so much that it was hard to organize her thoughts into what she wanted to ask about first. Blake's suspicions about Cinder, Emerald and Mercury had turned out to be dead on, although Yang doubted even Blake had suspected half of what the trio of pretend students had been really up to. But there were so many unanswered questions about the events leading up to what was, even now being called by the media the 'Battle for Beacon'.

Blake had been hiding things. A lot of things. And she'd promised to give her answers when things calmed down. Well, they were calm now. There was still a lot of damage to the school, but the White Fang were rounded up, run off or dead, Cinder and her team were in the wind, and Blake was on the mend. Yang was determined to get some answers out of her notoriously closed mouthed cat-faunus partner.

Yang entered the Infirmary to find Blake sitting up in bed, color in her cheeks for the first time in nearly a week, and with the strange woman who'd saved her life sitting just behind them. Blake was holding a book, and they both appeared to be reading it, the woman reading intently from just over Blake's shoulder.

"Oh... this is a good part!" The woman said excitedly, getting a hum of agreement from Blake, who turned the page. The woman chuckled lightly. "Want to try reenacting this scene some time?" Blake blushed pink, then rammed an elbow back into the woman's stomach. The woman grunted then laughed. "That wasn't a no either."

Blake growled lightly, lifting her eyes from the book to glare back at the strange dusky skinned woman, but as she did so, her eyes caught sight of Yang, who'd stopped in the entrance-way and was listening with interest.

"Ack! Yang! This isn't what it looks like?" Blake began, then flushed, glancing back at the woman. "I mean, it's exactly what it looks like. We're reading a book. Nothing else." Blake hurriedly closed the book and laid it down on the bed, trying to hide the cover art, but Yang had already seen more than enough.

"Looks like more of that smut you like reading so much." Yang commented with a grin. "Planning on reenacting some scenes? Kinky."

Blake blushed. "We're not..." She shook her head quickly. "Ignore Ja... Amber."

Yang blinked. "Jamber?"

Blake licked her lips. "Amber. Ignore Amber. She's joking."

"Probably." Amber agreed with a shrug. "But I still haven't heard a no..."

Blake blushed deeper, jabbed Amber with an elbow again and changed the subject. "So... Yang! What's been happening?"

Yang shrugged. "Nothing much. They're still working on fixing up the school. There's an ongoing investigation into what exactly happened, and you... you owe me some answers." She pointed at Blake. "You swore you'd tell me everything when things calmed down. Well they're calm, so talk."

Blake hesitated, glancing at the woman sitting at her back, then turned to Yang with a sigh. "I did, I know, but... there's so much, and it's so insane you're never going to believe all of it."

Yang crossed her arms under her breasts, looking unimpressed. "Try me." She nodded at Amber. "For starters, why are you so cozy with her? Who is she? Pyrrha said something about her being in a coma under the school?"

Blake blinked. "Pyrrha?"

Amber hesitated before nodding slowly. "Yeah, she was there when I... er... woke up."

Yang frowned. "OK, sure. But how do you know Blake?" She hesitated. "Did you meet back when Blake was in... er..." Yang hesitated, obviously not wanting to mention Blake's previous membership in the White Fang.

Blake sighed. "Amber knows about me being in the White Fang, and no, we didn't meet while I was a member."

Yang looked surprised. "Huh. OK, so when did you meet? Don't tell me that you managed to seduce Blake into sleeping in the same bed with you in the ten minutes between Blake waking up and the rest of us getting to the room, did you?"

Blake sighed. "She didn't seduce me, Yang. She's just... a good friend."

Amber looked a bit hurt, but tried to conceal it. "Yeah, we're... good friends."

Blake winced, then sighed. "We're girlfriends." She said as if more than a little reluctant to admit it.

Amber beamed, looking happy and excited. "Really?"

Yang echoed her. "Really?"

Blake sighed, looking resigned. "Yes. Really." She glared over her shoulder at Amber. "But no funny stuff."

"Yet?" Amber asked hopefully.

Blake hesitated. "We'll talk about it."

Yang looked from one girl to the other, trying to puzzle them out. "OK, so you do know each other?"

Blake turned back to Yang. "Yes. Yes we do."

Amber shrugged. "It's complicated?"

Blake sighed. "That's putting it mildly."

Yang looked confused. "OK, I don't get it. Either you know each other or you don't."

Blake hesitated. "Well, we do and we don't."

Yang blinked. "What does that mean?"

Blake sighed, then waved at the nearest hospital bed. "You might as well take a seat. This is a long, confusing story."

Amber looked surprised. "Are we going to tell her everything?"

Blake nodded, looking determined. "I owe Yang that much. More, really, but... well..." She looked at Yang. "I've been keeping this secret for a long time, and it's going to be really hard for you to believe, and harder for me to prove."

Yang frowned. "That doesn't sound good."

Blake sighed. "I know. Just... please, try and give me the benefit of the doubt? And... try and listen till the end. It really is very, very complicated."

Amber sighed. "You're not kidding."

Yang raised an eyebrow. "And Amber knows about all of this?"

Blake nodded somberly. "She does. She can verify just about everything I say, although I guess that it just comes down to whether or not you believe our word."

Yang frowned. "Well, I trust you, partner, but your... girlfriend, her I don't know." She smiled and shrugged. "Still, she saved us from Adam. Saved your life in the process. That buys quite a bit of leeway from me." She moved over and plopped down on the hospital bed next to Blake's. "OK, I'm listening."

Blake took a deep breath. "Well... do you remember when Dr. Polendina hired me to do some work for him?"

Amber looked confused. "We're starting there?"

Blake shot her 'girlfriend' a look. "Let me tell this my way, OK? I want Yang to understand the basics before I get into the really crazy stuff."

Yang waited for them to finish, then nodded. "Sure. He wanted you to help him with his research right?"

Blake nodded. "Do you remember what his research was on?"

Yang frowned. "Robots?"

Blake shrugged. "Yes, but the part I was helping him with?"

Yang wrinkled her nose. "Something about Aura? About how you can... um... project your Aura outside of your body, right?"

Blake nodded, looking pleased. "Right. And that was true... mostly."

Yang blinked. "Mostly?"

Blake nodded again. "It's true that I can project my Aura outside of my body. And Dr. Polendina is apparently the foremost expert in the study of Aura. Did you know that he created an artificial Aura for Penny?"

Yang nodded at that. "Ruby mentioned something about it. She said it's proof that Penny is a real person, because she has to have a soul if she has Aura, right?"

Blake smiled. "Exactly."

Yang nodded. "OK. But what part of all that weren't you telling us this whole time?"

Blake frowned. "Well, that's the insane part. But let me explain it to you the way Dr. Polendina explained it to me. You see, Aura is the manifestation of our souls. And your Aura sustains your soul. If you run out of Aura, you die."

Yang looked confused. "Wait, but we run out of Aura all the time. Well, not ALL the time, but we've all had our Aura break on us, and what about people who don't have an activated Aura?"

Blake shrugged. "They still have an Aura, it's just not one that they can use to protect themselves. And when our Aura breaks, it's not completely gone. It's just that after your Aura breaks all that's left is a little inside your body. If you could project every bit of Aura outside of yourself at once, you'd probably die."

Yang looked thoughtful. "OK, that makes sense."

Blake continued. "OK, So I can project my Aura outside of my body. In theory, Aura can sustain a soul, even if it's not inside a body."

Yang looked dubious. "Really?"

Blake shrugged. "Well, Penny's body isn't alive... not the way ours our, and yet she has an Aura, and a soul."

Yang frowned. "Maybe?"

Blake sighed. "Well, in any case, my Aura can sustain a soul outside of it's body. Dr. Polendina says it's part of how my semblance has caused me to adapt, my cells can project my Aura outside my body. Long distances outside my body, although the farther I'm forced to try and project it, the harder it gets. If I'm forced to push my Aura too far from myself, it's more than I can sustain, and my Aura starts dropping."

Yang blinked. "Wait... that's why...?" She frowned. "I don't get it... your Aura starts going down every time you're too far away from your bear. Does that mean you were projecting your Aura into your bear?"

Blake nodded. "Exactly. I was projecting my Aura into my bear."

Yang looked confused. "Why?"

Blake grimaced. "Believe it or not, to sustain a soul."

Yang raised an eyebrow. "You're not going to try and tell me your teddy bear had a soul?"

Blake shrugged. "It did some of the time?"

Yang blinked. "You're not serious. I mean, there's sentimental value, and then there's thinking your teddy bear is alive."

Blake winced. "Well, not ALIVE. More... possessed."

Yang opened her mouth, then closed it. "Kitten, you are playing a prank on me, right? You're not being serious."

Blake sighed. "Sorry... I told you it was insane."

"It's true though." Amber confirmed, shrugging.

Yang looked dubious. "Don't tell me you're buying into this ridiculousness?"

Amber shrugged again. "It's complicated, but yes, I do happen to know for a fact that Blake is telling the truth."

Yang grimaced, then shook her head as if to clear it. "Fine... fine, suspending my disbelief. So... your teddy bear had a soul."

Blake shrugged. "Some of the time, yeah."

Yang's eyes suddenly went wide. "Wait! No... no way." Blake looked interested, but let Yang continue. "You told me something, during the battle. While we were running away from Adam. Penny told you to look for someone, and you said it was Jaune. Jaune Arc. The guy who died at initiation. The guy who's sword you keep wrapped in a bundle under your bed. That Jaune Arc. And when I asked you what he looked like, you said... you described your teddy bear." Yang's face was going from confused to disbelieving. "You're trying to tell me that your teddy bear was being possessed by... what? The Ghost of Jaune Arc?"

Blake shrugged. "I told you that you weren't going to believe me."

Yang gaped at her. "You're not serious."

Blake sighed. "Yang, just... please, keep an open mind, OK?"

Yang just gaped at her. "Ghosts? Really?"

Blake sighed again. "That day. Initiation. When I found Jaune, he was still alive. Barely... but still alive. He died almost as soon as I got there, but he was still barely breathing when I got to him. I was... well, I was horrified, and I wished that I could save him somehow. And then... he was standing next to me. His ghost... or his Aura, or his soul." She frowned. "Actually, to be precise, Dr. Polendina explained that Jaune's soul was kind of like a parasite, being sustained by my Aura. My semblance somehow latched on to his soul right as he was dying, and kept it here."

Yang blinked. "What are you saying?"

Blake shrugged. "Well, that's pretty much it. Jaune was a ghost. Or at least, that's what he seemed like to me. I could see him, and hear him, but nobody else could. I honestly thought I was insane for the longest time, but... he was so... real. He knew things that I couldn't possibly know. He could tell me stuff I couldn't have learned on my own. He couldn't move very far away from me. A few meters was all, but he could see and hear, and he could tell me what he saw."

Yang blinked. "You're right. This is insane. Can you prove any of this?"

Blake sighed. "Well... if Jaune was still attached to my Aura, yeah, I probably could. But he's not."

Yang blinked. "Wait... what? He's gone now?"

Blake shook her head. "No. He's still around. He's just not attached to my Aura anymore."

Yang opened her mouth, then closed it, then opened it again. "That's... convenient. So you can't prove any of this because Jaune's not around any more?"

Blake sighed. "He's still around... but..." She shook her head. "It's complicated, and it'd be a lot easier to explain the whole thing at once then to jump from question to question."

Yang sighed. "Fine... fine. I'm listening. Uncomplicate it for me."

Blake took a deep breath. "Right. Well... at one point, we found out that Jaune could possess inanimate objects."

Yang raised an eyebrow. "Like the bear."

Blake nodded. "Right. And while he was in an object, he could get farther away from me. Except when he got really far away, it started draining my Aura."

Yang nodded thoughtfully. "So when he was in the bear, and the bear was in Mountain Glenn, it was killing you because it was so far away?"

Blake nodded. "Dr. Polendina compared it to an electrical current. The farther the distance, the greater the resistance, right?"

Yang frowned. "I guess? I get the idea, anyway. So that was why you were so upset when Cardin stole him? Because Jaune was inside?"

Blake nodded. "Actually, I think that was why I felt so lethargic and tired at the time. Jaune was still far enough away to be doing a number on my Aura. It wasn't as BAD... but..."

Yang blew out a breath. "OK, assuming I believe you... then what happened? Why isn't he attached to your Aura anymore?"

Amber spoke up. "Actually, I think I can explain that part."

Yang raised an eyebrow. "You can?"

Blake looked at Amber. "I've actually been wanting to hear the whole story on how that went down myself."

Amber nodded. "Well, during the final day of the tournament, Jaune was in the bear, and he was up on the Atlas Flagship with Dr. Polendina. Dr. Polendina had been working on a robot body for Jaune, and they were doing calibrations, so that Jaune could possess the robot body and get it to do what he wanted it to do. I guess it was pretty complicated because a robot body doesn't know how to respond to the commands from Aura, and the Doctor had to program it to sense shifts in Aura and respond like a human body would."

Yang was gaping at Amber. "Wait... how do you know all this? And... that's why there is a robot Jaune? Because the Doctor was building Jaune a body?"

Blake grinned. "Well, I guess that is one bit of proof, huh?"

Yang blinked. "They knew?"

Amber nodded. "Ever since... er... Jaune tried to possess Penny, Penny's known everything. Apparently, while Jaune couldn't control a robot like Penny, she's able to sense everything going on in her body, and she sensed Jaune. She knew everything about him in an instant... kind of like she got a flash impression of all his memories all at once. And after that, she went to her father and asked him to help."

Yang spoke up. "Wait... either I'm going insane too, or this is starting to make sense."

Blake beamed. "You mean you believe me?"

Yang hesitated. "I... maybe? I mean, I want to. I don't think you'd lie to me." She scratched her head. "Play the world's most complex practical joke, maybe... but even for me, building a robot body is pretty far to go for a joke."

Blake laughed. "It'd be a pretty awesome joke though, right?"

Yang chuckled back. "Oh my gods, would it!" Her face fell. "Please tell me this is a joke?"

Blake sighed and shook her head. "Afraid not."

Yang sighed back. "Yeah..." She brightened. "On the plus side, I'm starting to think you might not be insane!" She chuckled. "Either that, or it's contagious."

"Either one works for me." Blake said with a twinkle in her eyes.

Yang turned to Amber. "So... how did you get involved in all of this?"

Amber shrugged. "I'm getting to that."

Yang nodded. "OK, go on. This story is starting to get pretty interesting, at least."

Amber laughed. "Well, we're skipping a whole lot... but yeah, interesting would be one way to put it." She scratched behind her head. "Where was I?"

"Jaune was up on the battleship with Dr. Polendina, calibrating the robot Jaune body." Blake supplied.

Amber nodded. "Right. The fight between Penny and Pyrrha was on the monitor while he was doing the calibrations, and then everything started happening at once. Pyrrha destroyed Penny's original body, and the Grimm started attacking the ship... and then this girl came in, an assassin. Someone who was working with Torchwick and the White Fang. She came in, and attacked the Doctor, and threw the bear with Jaune in it out the window."

Yang blinked. "Wait. Why did she throw the bear out of a window?"

Amber shrugged. "She's a vicious, murderous, crazy, bitch?"

Yang blinked. "OK... but why at all? I mean, what would a teddy bear mean to her?"

Amber blinked. "Oh... right. OK. Well, you know her. She's the short girl with the pink white and brown hair, and the umbrella, that you fought on the train?"

Yang blinked again. "Her?"

Amber nodded. "Right. She knew about the bear, because when she was about to finish you off, Jaune, in the bear, jumped in the way at the last second and she ended up stabbing him instead of you."

Yang blinked in astonishment. "Wait... the teddy bear saved my life?" Amber nodded, and Yang's eyes went wider. "The teddy bear could move?"

"While Jaune was in it, it could. He just never moved it while you were looking." Amber confirmed.

Yang shook her head. "No... wait. My mom... my mom was the one who saved me."

Amber blinked. "That was your mom?" Yang looked at him, and Amber continued. "The woman in the Grimm mask with the long red sword was your mom?"

Yang frowned. "I... think so? I just saw her for a second before she disappeared." She blinked. "Wait, you... Jaune saw her? He told you about her?"

Amber nodded. "He saw her. I don't know if she saw him. By the time she arrived, the crazy ice cream girl was still busy pulling the bear off of her sword and freaking out because it was moving. And then she teleported away before your mom could do anything to her."

Yang blinked. "She was here in Beacon that night. And she brought the bear back?"

Amber nodded again. "Jaune convinced her to bring him back to Beacon."

Blake blinked. "Wait, what? How did you...?"

Amber shook her head. "I'll explain that part later."

Yang was looking from one of them to the other, confusion and suspicion crossing her face. "What aren't you telling me?"

Amber held up a finger. "I'll explain everything, just let me finish."

Yang frowned, then threw up her hands. "Fine, fine. So the crazy ice cream girl assassinated Dr. Polendina and threw Jaune out the window of the battleship."

Amber nodded. "He was in the bear, so he couldn't leave it. Jaune fell into some bushes near the front of the tower, and when he climbed out, he saw Pyrrha following Ozpin into the front of the tower, away from the battle. Jaune knew that Pyrrha would know to return him to Blake, so he followed them. They got into an elevator going down, and he squeezed into a vent and fell onto the roof of the elevator, fell through the trap door on the top, and into the elevator. Pyrrha picked him up, and she was going to return the bear to Blake after... well, after they'd done what they'd gone underground to do."

Yang blinked. "And what did they go underground to do?"

Amber hesitated. "Er... the next part is kind of a secret. And not Jaune's secret."

Yang blinked. "Do I need to ask Pyrrha what happened next?"

Amber hesitated again, glancing at Blake. "Maybe you should?"

Blake looked at Amber, frowning. "Does it have something to do with... what you are? This... Fall Maiden person?"

Amber frowned thoughtfully. "Actually... I suppose in a way it's kind of my secret."

Yang was looking frustrated. "So... do I need to get Pyrrha, or are you going to tell me?"

Amber sighed. "Well... I guess Amber wouldn't mind..." The girl continued speaking before Yang could question her odd turn of phrase. "Ozpin had gone to get Pyrrha so he could make her into the next Fall Maiden. Down below the school was this... I guess some sort of life support thing, except it was more than that. It was a machine that could transfer Aura from one person to another."

Yang blinked. "A machine that can transfer Aura? What do you mean?"

Amber shrugged. "I don't know how it works, only that... Pyrrha carried the teddy bear down there, and that's where they found Amber."

Yang pointed at the girl. "You?"

Amber frowned. "Yes and no? Let me finish. Its..."

"Complicated." Yang said before she could, sounding annoyed. "Right. Haven't heard that before." She waved a hand at Amber. "Fine, go on. Explain."

Amber nodded. "In short... Amber was in a coma. Dead, really, except that the machine was keeping her body alive. Barely alive, but... well, she was, is... I am, I mean, the Fall Maiden."

Yang blinked. "You keep saying that like it's supposed to mean something."

Amber shrugged. "Have you ever heard the story called the Four Seasons?"

Yang frowned. "The fairy tale?"

Amber nodded, then pointed at herself. "It's a true story, apparently, and I'm the latest person to receive the powers."

Yang blinked again. "Wait... you mean all the stuff you can do, it's because you got magic powers from a wizard?"

Amber shrugged. "Well, not me. I got the powers from the previous Fall Maiden, who got them from the Fall Maiden before her, and so on. But yeah, originally, I guess there was a wizard."

Yang raised an eyebrow. "It's not just a semblance? A... really powerful semblance, sure, but...?"

Amber shrugged. "I can control fire, create storms, call down lightning, throw blasts of wind, freeze things... all without any dust."

Yang looked dubious. "Prove it."

Amber raised a hand and a small flame appeared floating above the palm of her hand. "How about this?"

Yang reached out till her fingers were close enough to feel the heat. "Um... semblance?"

Amber shrugged, dismissed the fire, then raised a hand above Yang's head. A tiny cloud formed, and it started to rain. Yang yelped and dived away from the cloud, then looked up at it in astonishment from the floor.

Amber shrugged, giving a twist of her wrist, and the cloud evaporated. "I could go on, but I don't want to wreck the infirmary."

Yang swallowed, slowly getting up and sitting back down on the bed next to Blake's. "OK... I admit, I can't explain how you can do all that with just a semblance."

Amber shrugged. "Believe it or not. Ozpin did. And he wanted to use that machine to transfer the powers to Pyrrha. By pulling Amber's remaining Aura out and putting it into her."

Yang winced. "Pulling her... your Aura out? Wouldn't that kill you?"

Amber shrugged. "I was already dead. Well, pretty much. But things went weird before they finished the transfer. You see, Pyrrha took the bear into the other tube with her. Jaune was with her when Ozpin started the machine up. And then Cinder appeared. I guess she'd been sneaking around, waiting for an opportunity, because she was there to finish Amber off. You see, Cinder was the one who'd attacked Amber in the first place. She'd used some sort of... well, I don't know WHAT it was, but she had ambushed Amber... me, with Emerald and Mercury, and she tried to steal the powers. She nearly did. Ripped about half of the maiden powers away. And she'd come for the rest."

Yang blinked. "Wait... back up. Jaune was in the tube with Pyrrha?"

Amber nodded. "And Ozpin switched on the machine... and it started to work. But before the transfer could finish, Cinder showed up and aimed a bow at Amber. I guess she figured if she killed her the powers would be hers completely. But before she could, Jaune tried to do something, anything, to stop Cinder, and somehow, he found himself in Amber's body, and he blocked the arrow that was meant to kill Amber with her arm."

Yang was gaping. "No..."

Amber nodded. "Yup. I'm Amber... but I'm also Jaune Arc."

* * *

**I don't have any good cover art for this story, so if anyone has anything appropriate I could use, I wouldn't complain. Any aspiring artists care to donate a picture of Blake and Amber reading a book together?**


	3. Chapter 3

From Beyond: Aftermath Ch 3

Yang looked at Blake incredulously. "NO!"

Blake nodded. "It's him. I can tell."

Yang looked back at Amber. "But you're a chick!"

Amber/Jaune snorted. "Believe me, I noticed."

Blake picked up the story at that point. "After Jaune possessed that bear the first time, we tried to find out what else he could possess. He tried other people... but he couldn't possess anyone who was awake. Or even asleep. But during the fight on the docks, Sun got knocked unconscious..."

"I was trying to wake him up..." Jaune explained. "It was stupid, I didn't have a body, but I was desperate, and suddenly I was possessing him. I helped fight off Torchwick and the White Fang, and then Sun woke up again, and I got thrown out of his body."

Blake nodded. "So we knew that Jaune could possess unconscious people. It happened a couple other times..."

Jaune nodded. "The White Fang girl..."

Blake winced. "Don't remind me."

Jaune chuckled. "And that Atlas soldier at the dance..."

Yang blinked. "Wait. That was you?"

Jaune nodded, grinning. "Yeah. Blake was trying to hide by the wall so you wouldn't find her and find out she didn't really have a date..."

Yang pointed a finger at Blake. "You lied about your boyfriend?" She frowned. "Wait... who were you talking to on the scroll all the time?"

Blake shrugged and pointed at Amber. "Jaune. I used my scroll so I wouldn't have to explain why I was talking to a ghost. I used texts to talk to him when I didn't want anyone to overhear our conversations."

Yang blinked. "OH! Wow. You mean all of the things we overheard you saying was to Jaune?"

Blake shrugged. "I'd imagine most of them, anyway."

Yang blinked. "But what about that conversation on the first day, where your boyfriend wanted to watch you... shower..." she stopped talking, and her face paled. Slowly, she looked at Amber, her eyes starting to shift to red, and her hair starting to glow. "You've been peeping on us for the whole year?!" She shouted, rising to her feet in rage.

"No!" Jaune said quickly, holding up her hands.

"He didn't." Blake assured Yang quickly. "Don't you remember how I always changed alone? And how I insisted that everyone change clothes in the bathroom, or while I wasn't in the room?"

Yang's hair lost it's fire and her eyes faded back to lavender. "Huh. You did all that because you were making sure Jaune couldn't peep?"

Blake glared at the girl behind her mildly. "I'm sure he'd have wanted to, but... I made sure he didn't have the opportunity."

Jaune looked nervous. "I never saw anything much... besides, if you were a ghost, wouldn't you want to peek a little?"

Yang frowned. "OK... fair point, and I guess I can't blame you. Seeing as you didn't see anything..."

"To be fair, I did see you in your bra a lot." Jaune admitted.

Yang's eyes flashed, then she sighed. "I thought Blake was just being really prudish."

Jaune winced. "Sorry?"

Yang sighed. "I'll let it go... I guess. But you owe me."

Jaune raised an eyebrow. "That's fair. What do you want?"

Yang wrinkled her nose. "A favor of my choosing?"

Jaune sighed. "OK. If you'll forgive me?"

Yang grinned suddenly. "Deal." Jaune looked nervous, and Yang shook her head. "I am apparently insane. I'm starting to believe this absolutely bonkers story of yours." She blinked. "Oh! And that's how you knew Blake! You've been haunting her for the entire year!"

Jaune nodded. "Pretty much."

Yang looked at Blake. "Jaune was your secret boyfriend the entire time."

Blake winced. "He wasn't my boyfriend..."

Yang pointed at her. "You're sitting in her lap."

Blake winced harder. "That's new. He... didn't have a body before. And I just started understanding how I felt about him."

Jaune smiled. "I've kind of been in love with her for ages... but I couldn't do anything about it. I didn't even want her to know how I felt..."

Blake sighed. "It wasn't until we were practicing with you trying to possess me that I knew."

Yang blinked. "Wait, Jaune tried to possess you?"

Blake shrugged. "I had to let him in. If I relaxed, I could let him control my left arm. And he could feel things, and taste what I tasted."

Yang's eyes were wide. "Wow... that's... kind of the most intimate thing I've ever heard of." She frowned suspiciously. "Wait... you never tried to possess me, did you?" Amber flushed guiltily and Yang started to growl. "That is not OK!" She started.

Jaune shrugged sheepishly. "Well, in my defense, if you were me... wouldn't you want to possess you?"

Yang blinked. "Huh." She glanced down at herself, then grinned. "OK... fair. I am hot as hell."

Jaune glanced at Blake nervously. "I wouldn't have done anything bad, anyway. I just... I was a ghost. I couldn't feel anything, touch or smell. I couldn't talk to anyone besides Blake, and most of the time she couldn't talk back. I was bored out of my mind."

Yang frowned. "Ouch." She sighed. "Yeah, OK, I guess I can sympathize a bit. I mean, that had to suck."

Jaune nodded. "It wasn't great."

Yang blew out a breath. "OK, this is insane. You're actually the ghost of Jaune Arc, and you're possessing Amber?" She frowned. "Why are you still possessing her?"

Jaune sighed. "I'm stuck. I honestly can't get out. When I possessed her, there wasn't any consciousness left. Every time before, I could sense the person. Their will... their thoughts. There was always something there. But with Amber... nothing. I have her memories. Her skills, but Amber wasn't home. I think she's been dead for awhile, just her body was being kept alive by the machine. She still had Aura. Half an Aura, I guess, and that's sustaining me. And... I'm not exactly just Jaune Arc anymore. I'm kind of Amber too. I remember being her. I think I'm a little more Jaune then Amber, but... I think I might be stuck this way. I might be Amber for good."

Yang blinked. "So... you're just, alive? Your soul took over Amber's body and now you're her?"

Jaune nodded. "Pretty much. It's not something I wanted. I was planning on having a robot body to run around in. But I don't think there's any undoing this."

Yang frowned. "So... are you still connected to Blake? If you go too far away will she start dying again?"

Jaune shook her head. "No. I was. During the fight with Adam, I could feel her dying. When I got injured, my Aura automatically started drawing more from Blake to heal my injuries. I could feel it happening, and it was killing her. So I... cut the connection. Amber was... I am apparently really good with Aura. I could sense the connection and I cut it. I couldn't let Blake die to save me. Then I passed out."

Yang nodded slowly. "I remember. Adam was down, and then you dropped like someone had cut your strings. Couldn't figure out why at the time..." She leaned back, shaking her head. "This is so insane. But it fits. It all fits. Damn." She blinked, then looked at Jaune. "Wait... how did you possess that Atlas soldier at the dance, anyway? I thought you could only possess unconscious people?"

Jaune nodded. "I found him unconscious in the bushes just outside the auditorium."

Yang blinked. "And it never occurred to you to wonder why there was an unconscious soldier conveniently just outside?"

Jaune laughed nervously. "Things were kind of weird right then. I guess Cinder must have knocked him out when she was breaking into the CCT."

Yang blinked. "Wait, that was her?"

Jaune shrugged. "Well, yeah. Same fighting style and powers. Glass, fire... had to be her."

Blake nodded. "Yeah. It must have been part of her plan. I guess she was trying to find Amber the whole time?"

Jaune nodded. "She made that pretty clear. The whole thing was set up so she could get into the tower and steal the other half of the power from Amber... from me."

Yang frowned. "What happened to her, anyway? She got away... I know that much, but how?"

Jaune sighed. "We were fighting down in the Vault. I told Ozpin to go help everyone up top... and that I'd handle Cinder, but I wasn't winning. I wasn't losing either, but... we were at a stalemate. Cinder is probably better at fighting than I am, but I was willing to kill us both to keep her from getting away with the powers, and I let her know that. In the end... I could feel Blake was hurt. Dying. I chose to let Cinder go so I could go save Blake."

Yang sighed. "Well, I can't blame you for that, but damn. She's going to be a problem in the future, huh?"

Jaune sighed. "Yeah. She'll be back for sure. She wants these powers badly enough that she'd nearly destroy the city in the process. She won't stop at anything to kill me."

Yang frowned. "Guess we'll have to kill her first." Blake looked shocked, and Yang shook her head. "I'm not apologizing for saying it. She wants to kill Jaune... she nearly destroyed Beacon. Hundreds of people got hurt... a lot of people died, and it could have been a whole lot worse. If I get a chance, I'll kill her myself."

Blake sighed. "I hope it doesn't come down to it."

Jaune shook his/her head. "I think in the end it'll be her or me, and I know who I'll choose."

Blake took a deep breath and nodded. "I know who I'd choose too."

Yang sighed. "Well, this got heavy all of a sudden." She looked up at Blake and Amber, who were still sitting together on Blake's bed, Blake tucked into Amber's chest and leaning into her quite comfortably. "So, what now? What are we going to do?"

Blake spoke up. "I don't think we can tell anyone."

Jaune nodded. "The part about me, anyway."

Blake shrugged. "No one would believe us. They'd just think we were crazy."

Yang frowned. "Yeah... I mean, we might be able to convince some of the others. I think we could convince Ruby..."

Jaune spoke up. "I figure I could convince Pyrrha. She kind of told me some stuff while I was a bear that I'm pretty sure no one else knows."

Yang frowned. "You spied on her?"

Jaune raised an eyebrow. "I was a teddy bear. She picked me up and talked to me. What was I supposed to do?"

Yang blinked. "Oh. Right."

Jaune shook her head. "I haven't told anyone about what she told me..." She frowned. "Well, not specifically, anyway. But anyway, we could probably convince Pyrrha."

Blake spoke up. "Penny could back us up, I guess." She looked at Yang. "Where is Penny, anyway?"

Yang sighed. "Apparently she left with what was left of the Atlas fleet. She said she wanted to be at Dr. Polendina's funeral."

Blake wilted, looking sad. "She called him her father. I guess, in any way that matters, he was. He was... weird, but he was a nice man."

Jaune sighed and nodded. "He was a good guy. He built that body for me just because Blake was helping his research out a little." He looked curious. "Did you ever help him with his research?"

Blake sighed. "Not really. I mean, he was working with you, so technically I was helping? Sort of? But he never actually needed to work with me, aside from running a few scans and taking some blood."

Yang shook her head. "Poor guy. Poor Penny! She seemed really torn up about it."

They all went silent for awhile.

Jaune finally broke the silence. "Anyway... for now, maybe we shouldn't share everything?"

Blake nodded. "About Jaune, anyway. But maybe we should tell the others about the thing with the Fall Maiden, and the fact that Cinder Fall is almost certainly going to come back."

Yang nodded. "Yeah, we can't leave that part out. If Cinder Fall is coming back, we're going to need to be ready for her."

Jaune looked thoughtful. "Well, maybe I can help? I have most of the same powers she does, so I could help you train how to fight a Maiden?"

Yang grinned. "That's actually a pretty good idea." She frowned. "She's as strong as you are then? Lightning bolts and everything?"

Jaune nodded somberly. "Stronger, I'd say. She's a better fighter than me, and she's got her semblance unlocked, I think."

Yang blinked. "And you don't?"

Jaune shrugged. "Not really. Amber got the Maiden powers before she figured out her Semblance, and after that she mostly just practiced with them. Cinder, on the other hand, seems to be able to control glass on top of the Maiden powers, and she's really skilled. Better than me, and I'm... Amber is... was, pretty good too." Amber frowned. "It's weird, talking about myself in the third person... but it's weird thinking of myself as Amber too."

Yang looked curious. "Isn't that awkward?" She gestured to Blake and Amber. "Being with a girl who's possessed by the guy you like? Do you even like girls, Blake?"

Blake hesitated. "I don't know what exactly I'm feeling, I guess." She looked down, frowning. "I know that I'm glad Jaune's still around. I was really scared when I thought he was gone. I'm really used to having him around all the time. Him being a woman?" She shook her head. "It's a little weird, I guess, but... honestly, it's better this way. He... she has a body. That makes a big difference. As a ghost, there wasn't any way we could..." She blushed. "Well, you know. Not that we've done anything. It was just... hard to be a girlfriend to a ghost, right?"

Yang chuckled. "Unless Jaune just liked to watch, anyway."

Blake buried her face in her hands. "Don't give him any ideas, Yang!"

Yang chuckled, but let it drop. "OK." She started a minute or so later. "So what's the story? How did you and Amber become a couple? Officially, I mean?"

Blake shrugged. "Keep it simple, I guess. Tell people we met before school started?"

Jaune shrugged back. "It's true... kind of."

Yang sighed. "Yeah, better than trying to make up a complex lie, I guess." She frowned, looking at Amber. "Will that work, though? Did Amber... the original Amber I mean, did she have a boyfriend or anything? Family?"

Jaune sighed and shook her head. "No. Everyone close to her is dead. It's one of the hazards of being the Maiden. People who want the powers will try and hunt us down. They'll use friends and family to coerce us, threaten us into doing what they want. Ozpin and... well, a bunch of other people who work with Ozpin have been keeping the Maiden's a secret for a long time now, so that we can hide. I guess Cinder found out about us anyway, though."

Yang looked curious. "How does that work anyway? The powers going from one person to another, I mean? How did Cinder steal them?"

Jaune shook her head. "She used something... I don't know what it was. It kind of looked like a little Grimm coming out of her hand. Whatever it was, it grabbed me by the face and kind of... sucked the power out of me." She gestured at the light scarring covering a good portion of her face.

Yang blinked. "This... little Grimm thing gave you those scars?"

Jaune nodded. "Yes. It was horrible... I... it's not the most pleasant of memories."

Yang winced. "Sorry." She hesitated. "But you said you got the powers from the Fall Maiden that came before you, and she got them from someone who had the powers before her. How does that happen?"

Jaune looked thoughtful. "Well, the powers pass on to the next host when the current Maiden dies. They go to whomever the Maiden is thinking about at the time... so, technically killing them is a pretty effective way to gain the powers, because you'd naturally be thinking about the person who killed you, right?" Yang winced, and Jaune continued. "I think that's one major reason that Ozpin and his group have been keeping the Maiden's a secret. Someone who would kill a Maiden for her powers isn't the sort of person you'd really want having magical elemental super powers, right?"

Yang nodded. "Yeah... that does sound bad."

Jaune sighed. "Anyway, the powers can only pass to a young woman. A maiden, so if the Maiden thinks about a man, or an old woman, the powers end up going to someone completely random."

Yang frowned. "That's a dumb system. Who came up with that garbage?"

Jaune shrugged. "The wizard, I guess. Although he's been gone for thousands of years now, so I guess we can't ask him what the heck he was thinking." She wrinkled her nose. "Seriously though, all this stuff is super top secret. Ozpin would be furious if he knew I told you." She shrugged. "Not that he can really DO anything to me about it, but I'd rather stay on his good side if I can. I already kind of pissed him off."

Yang looked curious. "How did you manage that?"

Jaune sighed. "Ozpin wants me to leave. Go hide and train out in the wilderness with some hunters he picks out. But I'm not leaving Blake behind."

Yang nodded. "Yeah. OK, I can respect that." She grinned. "Although Blake could go with you? Sounds kind of romantic...?"

Jaune frowned. "Cinder's coming for me. I'm not going to put Blake in a position where she's the only person between me and that psychopath."

Blake took a deep breath. "If it was just me at risk, I'd tell you I'd come with you anyway... but it's not. The two of us won't be enough to stand up to Cinder and Emerald and Mercury and whoever else she recruits to come kill you... and I'm not letting her kill you if I can help it."

Yang nodded. "Yeah. I'm with you there. No way I want to miss out on that fight. I owe Cinder a serious beatdown. At the least. Ruby and Weiss... and heck, every hunter at Beacon owes her the same. I say we make her come to us. She won't find Beacon an easy target a second time, right?"

Blake nodded. "She had to pull off that ridiculously complex plan just to try for Amber the first time, and it failed. We'll be ready next time, and we're on our guard."

Jaune sighed. "I don't want to put anyone else at risk, but Blake's right. Going off on my own would almost be like just rolling over and giving Cinder what she wants. And we REALLY don't want someone like Cinder with the full powers of a Maiden. Trust me." She sighed. "The trick will be convincing Ozpin that his 'go hide on a mountain someplace' plan is stupid."

Blake frowned. "It's not a stupid plan. Not really. Out in the open, someone can try and kill you, even if it'll be hard to pull it off here at Beacon. But if they don't know where you are, they can't find you to kill you."

Jaune frowned. "Amber has had to run and hide for most of her life. I'm not doing that again. If Cinder manages to find a way to kill me here? So be it. But I'm not running away anymore."

Yang nodded. "Well, I'm all for standing and fighting." She frowned. "Wow, we've been talking here for a long time. Ruby is probably chewing on her shoes by now."

Blake looked concerned. "Is she worried?"

"About you." Yang explained. "I'll let her know you're alright." Yang pulled out her scroll and started texting. "So... when are you getting out of here anyway, Blake? You're already looking a lot better."

"I feel better." Blake admitted. "My Aura's nearly back to full strength, and my shoulder's already starting to feel better."

Yang grinned. "So let's get a doctor and get you out of here!"

Blake winced. "I'm not really all that eager for another encounter with Dr. Tsune. She kind of creeps me out."

Jaune winced. "Yeah... she REALLY likes giving injections way too much."

Blake grimaced. "And does she have to use such large needles?"

The fox faunus in question took that opportunity to pull back the curtain around Blake's bed, holding a large syringe. "You're going to hurt my feelings at this rate." She said with a wicked little smile. "I've been looking for you, Amber. It's time for your Aura booster."


End file.
